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Positively Weightless

A healthy life not only means physically healthy, but mentally as well. Healthy eating, healthy exercising habits, and a positive attitude are all important and help maintain balance in life. I decided to combine my love of writing and my positivity to change the world in hopes that any reader can also become positively weightless, and lead them to a healthy life.

Here we are on day "I lost count and do not want to take the time to count the number" of quarantine/social distancing. I think a lot of people, including myself did not really expect to still be working from home and not being able to go to Barnes and Noble to hoard more books since I am finally reading some of the books I recently bought. Do not take that as complaining about it. I still very much think that we should still be staying home and doing our part to make sure the spread of this virus continues to go down. That does not mean that we have all not lost something! I wanted to take a little time to talk about that today, and ensure anyone reading this that even if your loss was a small one, you are still allowed to grieve.

Most importantly I want to talk about the biggest amount of loss during this whole thing, and that, of course, are the lives that have been taken from this virus. Maybe this is because I am a highly emotional and empathetic person, but when I see the number on the TV screen that shows the tally of worldwide deaths I can't help but feel sad and scared. Each and every one of those that make up that number are human beings. They all had a family. They all had their own unique personalities. They all, big or small, had some kind of impact on this earth. But for the purpose of the news they are all simply added to the total. Do your best to remember that every single one of them is a person. The biggest loss of all right now is of the many people losing their lives and I think we all need very much to remember that.

Now I know the things I am going to talk about in the next few paragraphs are not the same as losing your life or a loved one, but as I said before I think every loss gives you the right to grieve. I know a number of people that have had to cancel or postpone big events they had planned because of this virus. The two examples I have in mind are weddings and baby showers. I personally cannot imagine having to postpone my wedding because of something like this. You go through all that planning for months, sometimes even years, for something so unpredictable to come along and completely ruin that. It has to be absolutely heartbreaking, but at the same time you know it is the right decision. The same goes for a baby shower. I can't imagine having such a special day planned only to have it need to be canceled. Not to mention the whole point of a shower is to help the new parents out with supplies they will need for their new addition. I would imagine that is pretty scary to think about especially since new babies are an expense! These big moments being taken by something so unpredictable is heartbreaking.

What about the smaller things? I personally just had to cancel a trip I had planned with my friends. We were planning a small road trip for the end of May that we had some pretty exciting things planned during the trip. We had been also trying to coordinate a trip for years but never were able to make things work so its pretty upsetting that we had to cancel it. The bright side is we can reschedule that of course. That does not mean I don't have the right to be upset about it though right? Maybe you had to cancel a trip like I did. Maybe a movie you really wanted to see was postponed for a year or so. Maybe you were really looking forward to playing a sport this summer but it likely is going to be canceled for the year. There are plenty of smaller things like this that I am sure every single one of us have had to cancel or postpone due to this virus. Just because it is small, does not mean you cannot grieve over that loss, especially if you make sure to remember that your loss is much smaller than those suffering through the bigger ones.

So what exactly is my point here you may be wondering? My point is that you should not let anyone tell you how you are supposed to feel during this time, and that even includes yourself. When I was upset about canceling my trip I caught myself feeling guilty at first. I asked myself what right did I have to be upset about a trip while people were dying? While yes, I would much rather cancel a trip and have my health over dying of losing someone I love, but I think I am still justified in being sad about our canceled trip. I have two friends that have their first child on the way and because of this the father of each couple cannot go to the prenatal appointments. Both couples understand the reasoning for this, but that doesn't mean it isn't hard for them! We have all lost something, big or small to this virus. Allow yourself to feel any emotions you want about your loss without comparing it to how anyone else thinks you should feel. Allow yourself to grieve that loss regardless of the size. Once you let those feelings out, then remember that you are in fact still alive and healthy, count your blessings and move forward. 
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Well here we are again. Another weekend is coming to an end, and the start of another week is just around the corner. I know to some of us the weeks are just blurring together at this point. I find myself thinking it is Friday on a Wednesday or Monday, when it is really Tuesday. I know I am not the only one with this! Instead of complaining about that though just keep in mind the people that are working their jobs as normal. Their weeks are likely a blur for an entirely different reason. So while you are complaining about being bored, just remember that there are plenty of people out there working probably wishing they had the option to be bored. I digress though! Today's post is going to be a little different. I wanted to talk a little bit about supporting local businesses during this time, and also do a little review about a local business I have been supporting during this time.

When you go shopping, I am guessing many of you just head to your local Walmart or Target. Maybe for groceries you go to whichever chain you have near you. I myself do this. What about eating out? I know a lot of us love our fast-food chains (although we really shouldn't be eating that junk, but I am here to be positive in this post not preaching health food.) and chain restaurants but I am sure you have a number of local places around you as well. These small businesses are going to struggle during this a lot more than the large chains are. So I wanted to take a little time to encourage you all to support these places during this time. Maybe you have a farm market near you. Why not buy your produce there for the week? If you are in the mood for Mexican food maybe look for a local place instead of getting Taco Bell, it is going to taste way better anyways I am sure. I am lucky to live by a lot of wineries in my area that are still doing orders for pick-up. Today I took a trip out to get a few bottles, some hard cider, and a pie to bake. It was nice just to take a drive honestly and instead of just going to a local liquor store to buy a bottle of cheap nationally sold wine. Do a little research and you just may find your new favorite place!

What about meal prep? I wanted to do a little review of a local business in this post as well to hopefully really encourage people to try new things. Today I wanted to talk about my recent experience with trying Eat Rite Foods. Eat Rite Foods is a local place that makes premade meals that are all very balanced, macro friendly, and overall healthy. I will admit up until recently I wasn't exactly ever interested in buying meals from a place like this. There was nothing against them, I just personally love to cook and do my own meal prep. Although I never had much interest I could see the appeal to people who may not like to cook or do not have the time to do so. I decided to try them out during this crazy time because I am finding myself struggling with sticking to a healthy lunch schedule like I would be at the office. First off the convivence is great for just being able to grab and reheat a healthy meal. I do not have to put any thought into my lunch. They also are delivering right now and offering pick up meals to keep going during these crazy times. I have been very impressed with the delivery as well. My newest order was on the porch before I was even out of bed this morning! They all come pre-portioned, packaged, and in a nice insulated bag to keep them cold. Overall just very convenient.


I am sure you are more importantly wondering how they tasted. Well, I ordered ten different meals in my first order and I liked every single one of them! They have plenty of options from marinated steak with veggies to bourbon glazed chicken and mac and cheese couscous, to old bay shrimp with rice and broccoli (I have put plenty of pictures here for you to see.) They all taste very fresh and you can tell they are cooked and packaged not too long before you receive them. Each one that I ordered was under 500 calories for the whole container, which was also great. I was also very impressed that the wrap and flatbread I ordered were not soggy at all as those sort of meals tend to get if they are premade and refrigerated. They also freeze very well. I ordered enough for two weeks of lunches and froze half of them so they did not spoil. They defrosted and reheated with no problems. I would say the honey Steak was my favorite, which surprised me since I am usually not a huge red meat eater. The best part about it? Each meal is usually around $6-$7. That is typically a little less than I would spend on groceries for my meal prep every week and the work is done for you! Overall I am extremely impressed and will likely continue to buy meals from Eat Rite Foods even after social distancing comes to an end. If I had to give a letter grade, I would hands-down give them an A.


I know a lot of my readers are actually not from my area, though, but I would encourage you to find a similar place and try them out. It seems these kinds of places are becoming more common so check out to see if you have one local! If they are even half as good as Eat Rite Foods. If you are local and interested in trying out Eat Rite Foods, however, you can check them out here. Shop at smaller local businesses just like this as much as you can. I know this is not an original idea on my part, and I am sure you are seeing this message all over the place right now but I wanted to do my part to keep that message going. Check out a meal prep service, get wine from a local winery or beer from a local brewery, show at the little produce market down the street, I could go on and on with examples. We need each other now more than ever right now so why not spend the money you are already planning on spending somewhere where it will matter that much more? As always I hope you are all staying home, and staying safe!
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First of all Happy Easter to all of you that celebrate! I know things are very different this year and maybe it doesn't totally feel like a holiday because you are not at your big family dinner, didn't go to Easter Sunday mass, or were not able to make an Easter basket for a loved one. What does matter though is that you are here to celebrate, and there are plenty of ways to stay in touch with the ones you love even while you are social distancing. One thing you may still be doing is enjoying the yummy Easter dinner (or parts of it) you normally would be. Maybe you, like myself, have already eaten the ears off of your chocolate bunny. I have always had the attitude that you should enjoy yourself on holidays, however, I think social isolation has also wrecked havoc on a lot of people's diets and I wanted to talk a little about that this week.

Here we are stuck at home pretty much 24/7 other than the occasional trip to the store unless you are an essential worker. I know emotional eating is a very real thing and think about all of the different emotions most people are going through right now. Stress, sadness, fear, etc. all leading someone who may be an emotional eater right into a pint of ice cream or bag or chips. I am not condoning this of course, but it is a very real thing. In top of that we are likely moving a lot less. I know me alone during my work day am moving a lot less simply because there are no walks to the main printer or up the stairs as much to check the mail. It is a pretty bad combo if you really think of it. So what are some things we can do to help with this? I wanted t spend a little time talking about just that.

My first piece of advice is going to be to stick to your schedule as much as possible as far as meals. Try to eat similar meals than you would on a work day or better yet, take your extra time in the morning that you normally would be commuting during to cook yourself a much more decent breakfast instead of the protein shake or power bar you grab on your way out the door. Are you a coffee lover like me? Well, I love to stop at the Starbucks by work and pick up a cold brew, usually with vanilla cream. Now that I am home I have been making my own cold brew and just adding a some of the creamer in my fridge. I have something that tastes the same, if not better, and with less fat, sugar, and calories than the drink I would have paid $4 for at Starbucks. Why not utilize this extra time to form some better habits in the morning before your commute once we are back to our new normal? Try your best to eat your lunch at the same time you normally would at your job, even if you are home and can eat really any time you want. Dinner can work the same way. Try to keep your routine as normal as possible when it comes to eating. I personally have still had my fair share of avocado toast and over easy eggs for breakfast, just as I would before work.

If you are like me, you still may struggle a bit. I will admit I have been snacking more than usual. I think it honestly just part of a lot of our nature to graze during the day. So what are some things we can do to help with that? Well next time you go shopping opt for some healthier options. Carrot and celery sticks, fresh fruit, plain popcorn (so you control how much butter goes on.) yogurts, even lean deli meats and cheeses. There are really a ton of possibilities and I myself need to do this as well next time I shop. For lunches I recently decided to start using a meal prep service that is in my area. You would probably hear more of that later (hint, hint) but I have found that very helpful. Have a bunch of healthy meals on standby in the fridge so once noon hits I can leave my desk, grab one, heat it up, and just eat it. I know it seems silly that we have all this time to cook to use a service, but a lot of grocery stores are scarce and there are plenty of other things to worry about. Having those meals on hand makes it very easy to have a healthy lunch. Or you could even meal prep as usual on Sundays to have your lunches all ready to go. Consistency during this time is really going to be key!

Stay on a normal and healthy diet has been proven to be hard during all of this. Trust me I know! It is so easy to just grab a bag of cookies and mindlessly eat them while you work from home. It is very easy to just order greasy take out (with no contact delivery of course) instead of taking the time to plan out a decent meal. Grocery shopping is pretty intimidating right now as it is with the somewhat empty shelves, Plexiglas barricades in front of the cashiers, and people walking around in masks. I get that it might be easier to just grab what you see and get out of the store so you can get home and sanitize. That really is the new normal for the time being. But you can also take some time to make some decent choices along the way as well! Our bodies needs that now more than ever!
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If you are anything like me through this social distancing era, you are finding it hard to stay motivated with certain things. I have been talking the last few weeks about keeping as much normalcy as possible in your routine, sticking with your healthy eating, exercise, and all of those fun things. I have, however, learned it isn't always the easiest thing to do during this time that is anything but normal. So I figured I would elaborate a bit on that topic and talk about exercising specifically on a much more in-depth level.

I personally have been struggling a little bit to keep up with my 5 days a week schedule when it comes to exercising. After spending the majority of my day cooped up in my bedroom at my desk where I am set up for work, the last place I want to be is in there again to exercise. If you are anything like me, space is lacking a bit as well too. Since I am having to stay in my bedroom a lot of the time right now I had to move around some things to make space for my work setup. So that just means I have less space to work with as far as a workout goes. A lot of my exercises are doable, but the occasional one needs to be modified in some way to accommodate for the space i have to work with. When motivation is already lacking a bit, small little obstacles such as this only give us all the more reason to blow things off. Now I am by no means saying this is okay, but it happens. I am sure a lot of you are with me when I say that when I am already unmotivated, any small hurdle is going to deter me away from working out.

So what can we do to change things around? I would say if possible change your surroundings as much as you can during this time. As I said I have been working out in my bedroom but I think that has been a pretty big error on my part. Working out in the same place you have been working all day, and they same place you sleep each night is simply going to deter most people from actually getting the job done. For one, if you are sitting there all day, you will be bored of those same walls and appreciate the new surrounding. I am considering setting up a small area of the basement that I can go down and workout in myself for this reason. If you have somewhere outside in your back yard, as long as the weather is nice, that could work too. Just somewhere to change up your surroundings that your subconscious isn't already associating with work or relaxation/sleep. 

What about the workouts themselves? Well working out from home is a much different experience from the gym. I very obviously do not have a squat rack, a barbell, a leg press machine, or anything of the sort. I, of course, am going to lose some of the progress I have put so much time and effort into, but that is okay. This is all for a very important cause. What I can do is change things up as best I can. I am lucky enough to still have my personal trainer and we are working together on a program I can do from home. If you do not have that luxury, as I have mentioned before there are plenty of programs and apps that are offering free memberships during this time. I know the actor Chris Hemsworth is offering a free period of his fitness programs, but let's face it if I started using those I would be doing a lot more watching than exercising 😉! Take this time to try out something brand new. This past Friday I did an online workout from my gym that was a dance choreography. I learned that I looked like an absolute fool doing it, but had a lot of fun. I never in a million years would have been brave enough to just go to a class like that, so this was a nice change. I burned around 600 calories and had a blast doing it, looking ridiculous or not! Take this time to change up your routine, and you just might find something you love!

When all else fails, why not go for a run, walk, or even a bike ride? Yes, we are supposed to be staying home and keeping our distance from each other, but that does not mean we cannot get out for a little fresh air. As long as you are by yourself and keeping your distance away from everyone as you are out then you should be just fine. Take some hand sanitizer with you or even wear a face mask if you have these resources available to you. Do what needs to be done to keep yourself and others safe, but by all means get your cardio in outside. I plan on getting right back into the swing of things next week and no longer using this as an excuse to be lazy. I highly suggest you do that same thing. I think I will take the next few weeks to offer suggestions just like this when it comes to keeping healthy through this crazy "new normal" we are living through right now. It is especially important now to stay healthy. I look forward to continuing on a similar topic next week. Stay safe everyone!
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About me




29 years old. Graduate from Buffalo State College with my B.A. in English. I am just looking to hopefully change the world through my love of writing and my positive attitude.

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